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Saturday, April 05, 2014

bobby flay stoneware lasagna pan review

Press sample for review

I received a gorgeous, stoneware Bobby Flay Lasagna Pan to review. It's a real eye-pleaser with its dark base and a deep sangria color. I also love the fact that the pan has handles on either end, although they look like they could break after some wear/tear and clumsiness. It's an oversized lasagna pan – 9.5 x 14.25 inches, as compared to the traditional 9 x 13 inch pan, which makes for generous servings.

"Love handles" on the Bobby Flay Lasagna Pan, I love them.

The label says the pan is safe up to 375°, which coincidentally happens to be the temperature at which you bake most lasagna recipes. It also says the pan is microwave and dishwasher safe. I don't know about you, but this would never fit in my tiny, city kitchen microwave [it barely holds my coffee cup!]. And because of the handles and this size of the pan, I would not feel comfortable placing it in the dishwasher.

I thought the burnt-on tomato sauce would make for a difficult clean up. I was wrong.

I tested out the pan by making my creamy-dream vegan Butternut Squash Lasgana. My lasagna baked evenly, and I enjoyed the depth of the dish. It made for quite a dramatic presentation – even though I was eating solo! After baking, quite a bit of my tomato sauce had baked onto the pan, as you can see in the photo, and I was certain cleaning it would be a pain. I filled the pan with dish soap and warm water and went for a run. When I came back, the crispy sauce stains came right off – a real plus in my eyes!

The pans retail at Kohl's for $44.99. Several cheery colors are available.

Pros: Aesthetically pleasing, classic design. Handles make for easy transport from oven to table. Dishwasher and microwave safe [caveat: I did not test using these appliances]. Affordable elegance. List price is $44.99 but it looks like a more costly Le Creuset pan. I just checked on the Kohl's web site and it looks like they are now on sale for $34.99, which sounds like an excellent price for such a swanky piece.

Cons:Excessive packaging. The Bobby Flay label enveloped the entire pan, which I really don't have a problem with; it's his line, after all. What irked me is that all of this packaging was glued to the bottom of the pan. Of course you expect to wash any new pan or or utensil. But removing that glue took quite a bit of elbow grease – not what I was expecting. Heaviness: it's a blessing in the looks department but a curse on the practicality side – quite heavy and cumbersome to remove from the oven.

The glue from the packaging was a pain to remove.

Would I buy this? Being cheap, if I had to purchase an actual lasagna pan, I would probably go for the more frugal, plain glass Pyrex 9 X 13. But I must say, after testing this pan out, I would definitely purchase other Bobby Flay bakeware items, especially when they're on sale. [And I am very happy to own this lasagna pan.]

6 comments:

I'm a sucker for beautiful cookware. The pan does look nice, and I admire the generous size — it's so annoying when lasagna pans prove too shallow to hold all the layers. That said, 375˚ doesn't seem that high. I don't like to expose bakeware to the maximum temperature allowed. I'll be interested to see how your pan holds up.

It annoys me SO MUCH that so much cookware these days has packaging glued to it! Especially cake tins: I always have to spend hours soaking them and then scrubbing and then soaking again to get every last bit of label and glue off it. Blergh. It's like they don't realise we're going to be putting food on those surfaces!